


Sanitized Souls

by arsenical



Series: The Inktastic Adventures of Saffron and Khrome [1]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Other, Post-Octo Expansion DLC, Splatoon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 06:37:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17575760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arsenical/pseuds/arsenical
Summary: A year has passed since Commander Tartar's genocidal plan was dismantled. Now Saffron, a troubled inkling with a dark past, finds herself trapped in an abandoned Metro station. She has no interest in escaping, but a sanitized octoling might be able to change her mind.





	1. WAR

The lone inkling kept going, going, going. Flashes of neon yellow and black pierced the bleak landscape, yet the inkling mirrored a ghost. Quick, stealthy, and undetectable until it was too late.

“Khrome!” screamed the octoling, hysteria encompassing their fort. “Kris, Kass, Kay, and Karina have been splatted permanently; we have to get out there now!” Despite her enraged expression, terror and panic dotted her voice.

Khrome looked up as xe finished scouring the intricate handle of xyr Inkbrush.

Xe was the only nonbinary in the all-female regiment, and even though the others didn’t admit it, Khrome had an idea as to why they kept sidelining xem. It wasn’t a big deal though—xe deserved it, being the youngest and least experienced. In fact, the reason it irked Khrome wasn’t that xe enjoyed fighting these petty wars; xe just wished to be part of the group.

In truth, it was hard to understand why they simply didn’t give the zapfish back. There had to be other ways to generate more energy for Octarian society besides stealing the inklings’ primary source of power.

“Damned inklings,” cursed Kelson, as if she had read xyr mind. “They hoard the poor things. They do not need so many zapfish. They’re always wasting more energy than needed because of their stupid turf war games.”

She buckled on her ink tank and then helped Khrome with xyrs after xe struggled for a minute or two. The tank was hefty; it was ominously more uncomfortable than when xe had tested it during training. Of course, it was just psychological, and xe figured xe’d eventually get used to it.

“I don’t know.” Khrome treaded with caution—this was a touchy subject with Kelson. “I think turf wars look kinda fun?”

As expected, she shot xem a death glare. “The Great Turf War resulted in thousands of octoling casualties. How dare those arrogant, insolent inklings fashion a sport out of it!”

If Khrome attempted to bicker, Kelson would probably kill xem herself. And then she’d do it again. And again, until the respawner lost energy for all three lives it gave xem.

Kelson sighed and spoke in a milder tone, “You know we have talked about this before. But right now, we need to focus on bringing down Agent 3 of the Squidbeak Splatoon. Do you have all of your gear?”

Khrome nodded, eyes big as xe stared up at xyr role model.

“All right, it’s time to go.” She shrunk into octopus form and constricted her muscles, about to super-jump. “Oh,” she added right before she zoomed away, “and I expect you to have my back this time.”

* * *

Moray Towers was an incognito zapfish holding facility masked as a guiltless parking garage; complete with tar and concrete and even parked cars. On opposing peaks were the octoling army’s respawner and the one Agent 3 set up. These peaks were high up and topped long, zigzagging roads. Along these roads, Agent 3 was reclaiming the zapfish and taking out the other Octarian soldiers.

Khrome hadn’t visited Moray Towers many times. Now, everything seemed so much taller and more delicate than it did before; like the narrow roads xe stood on would give away at any moment like quicksand. It gave the octoling a strong sense of dread and worry. With reluctance, xe expelled from the peak as Kelson made a beeline for the inkling.

Agent 3 flicked their Hero Charger and hit Khrome in the chest—in a flash, they smoothly took out Kelson as well. She shouted in agony as her body shattered.

They hadn’t been on the frontlines for over ten seconds, and Agent 3 had already depleted one of their lives.

After respawning, Khrome brainstormed and made a detour. Xe pushed xyr Inkbrush and used it to race down the twisting roads of the “parking garage.” Xe prayed to Neptune xe was fast enough.

Xe got as far as the second-to-last level when xe could finally see the intruder clearly—well, as clearly as any octoling with lousy eyesight could. They were hazy, but their tentacles were tied up in a pitifully unkempt fashion, and they hid their face behind a gothic skull bandanna. Khrome really couldn’t make out any other distinguishable features, not even eye color.

A bolt of frigid ink hit xem in the chest again. Xe had only wavered for a split-second to ponder Agent 3’s appearance and that was still enough time to be a sitting duck. Khrome’s physical body shattered painfully for the second time, and xyr soul flew back to spawn. Xe didn’t understand why being splatted still hurt and was not merely uncomfortable to xyr; all the other soldiers had gotten used to it.

After respawning, Khrome’s found xemself standing next to a fuming Kelson—she had been taken out again. Realizing they both had wasted two lives, something stirred within the octoling. After seeing the animosity and power Agent 3 had, the original sense of dread and uneasiness was now suffocating.

Xe grabbed Kelson by the shoulders hysterically. “We’re not going to win this one. Ocatarian regiment after regiment has been taken out. Can we please just give the zapfish back; the inklings need them—”

“We are not giving up!” Kelson hissed, stern. She concealed her eyes behind metal goggles, but her gaze could still somehow invoke even more fear in Khrome. “We will succeed, for the future of Octarian soci—.” 

“No!” xe screamed. “We won’t! I just . . . I can’t do this!”

“You. Are. Not. Giving up.  _That is an order_.”

Kelson formulated and explained a lengthy plan, then they charged the battlefield once more. Despite Khrome’s anxiety, Kelson remained determined. They each had one life left, but they would win. They had to.

They didn’t.


	2. HEART

It had started as a blissful day, with the sun smiling happily and proudly holding the Earth in its warm embrace. But then around noon or so, the sun stopped grinning, and the sky started crying instead. Its tiny diamonds fell from the clouds, pitter-pattering against the barren soil, which saw the sky’s tears as something to be celebrated and not shunned.

Jessie could guess regretfully well why the heavens suddenly went on a tantrum. Her sister Saffron was getting out of Inkopolis prison today, at this very hour. Usually, something like this would be celebrated; instead, Jessie only tightened her hood and sardonically laughed as she waited with indifference on the near-empty street. The sky was not wrong to be in disarray.

Saffron was lead out by several guards protecting themselves from the rain with Hero Brella Replicas. They served no special particular compared to the standard brella weapon, except for being “exclusive” reskins and exact replicas of one of the famed weapons that Agent 3 of the Squidbeak Splatoon had used to defeat the octolings. Nowadays, octolings lived in harmony with inklings, but law enforcers still thought they looked cool wielding the Hero Replicas.

The stoic guards, some inkling and some octoling, forced Saffron to stride rigidly to the gate that would lead out to her freedom. But the instant they released and pushed her out, she bounded towards her sister. It wasn’t because she was enthusiastic to see Jessie; it was merely because she did not enjoy getting wet. No cephalopod did really. Being made of oil and ink, too much water was fatal.

Once the guards trekked back, Jessie popped opened her own fancy Sorella Brella, shoved it into Saffron’s hand, and gave her a good headslap. “Well, that was a long one.”

Saffron ignored the throbbing pain of her sister’s endearing gesture. “I missed you too.” She looked her up and down impertinently. “So, how’s Tina?”

Jessie began to stroll down the street at a casual pace. “She’s fine.”

Impassive, Saffron followed her. Jessie never liked talking about the family with her; it was because she deemed Saffron a bad influence. “That’s good to hear.” The words came from her mouth absentmindedly and with little nuance.

“All your junk is still on the train. If it hadn’t been for me, the conductor would’ve already sent everything to a warehouse. I had to convince him you were gonna get out soon.”

“Well, it’s nice to know everyone’s still quick to judge.” Insolent, Saffron sighed and clicked her beaked teeth. “My E-liter’s still there, right?”

“Yes, I said all of it, didn’t I?”

“Eh, wouldn’t surprise me if you tried to break my heart.”

Saffron and Jessie clammed up for a long moment out of frustration and disdain for each other. Then the latter let out an irritated huff and retracted into squid form. She was about to super-jump.

“Okay, you know what, I can’t fucking do this right now.”

She pointed herself at an arbitrary direction and took off. She zoomed through the sky at the speed of a jet, heading towards anywhere that wasn’t near her sister. Jessie had initially planned on escorting Saffron to the train—for her safety and other’s—but she hadn’t been out for over five minutes and she already couldn’t stand her.

Why should she care anyway? Jessie’s heart broke long ago because the only thing Saffron loved was a gas pump.


	3. TRAIN

The gloomy tunnel stretched out before Saffron like a welcoming red carpet. She poised herself on the cramped platform, gazing into the darkness and waiting for the large vessel that would take her through it. She wondered what was within the alluring abyss, what was beyond the window’s secretive view.

As the inkling stood there, several cephalopods shot her perturbed looks. It was in fascination and contempt for the sizable, distracting scar that muddied the right side of her tanned face. Not bothering to hide the area, Saffron retreated from the teeming, parasitic crowd. She leaned against the graffitied walls, glanced at her watch, and grimaced.

The subway was late, again. It was arriving later and later ever since its brief but notorious history had been exposed. The Deepsea Metro had been the only connector between the surface and the underwater world, and for an underwater creature to reach the surface, they had to pass eighty grueling tests successfully. Or at least that’s what they were told.

In reality, if a test subject passed they were not sent to the surface world. Instead, they were tricked into entering a giant blender and serrated into a sanitized, soap-like material. They kept alive anyone who failed the tests, but completely brainwashed or “sanitized” them with said material. Then they were imprisoned in the test itself. The subjects had lost their way in the darkness and therefore were bound to it for eternity.

Yup, it was all pretty fucked up.

But one day, a mysterious octoling who fell for the deception was saved by an agent of the Squidbeak Splatoon itself. The team continued to defeat the Metro’s head boss, a talking telephone, before it could wipe out and replace the world’s population with the new sanitized species. It had the effect of turning the Deepsea Metro into an actual transportation system and finally bringing together inklings and octolings; its passenger rate increased by tenfold daily.

Saffron was reviewing these old events in her head out of boredom. When she concluded them, her attention drifted back to the current situation. The train’s conductor was named C.Q. Cumber and his employer had left him in the dark about the true intentions of the Metro. He used to be professionally persnickety and vigilant during the sanitization incidents, but now he was just plain tardy with his schedule.

A full hour had ticked by before the tracks rattled and the train’s radiance grew. Saffron shuffled to the platform edge as the subway came to a clamorous halt and opened its doors. Long overdue for oiling, the doors squealed in pain as they did so.

Upon seeing Saffron for the first time in several months, C.Q. Cumber took it upon himself to step off the train and greet her.

“Salutations,” he said in his signature, unapologetically flat tone. He tipped his conductor’s hat with a gangly blue limb. The way his squishy little body worked was humorous and horrifying at the same time. “I would like to welcome you back and inform you that all of your possessions are still in your car. You have your sister to thank for that.”

Saffron couldn’t help but smile back. She snorted without regret, “Ha, I can’t imagine why you’d be glad I’m back. And yeah, my sister bragged to me about what she did.”

C.Q. nodded, unphased. “Mmm. All aboard then; the caboose of course.”

It was puzzling that he hadn’t apologized for being late like he had done previously, but Saffron didn’t care either way. Time was not of importance to her as she had nowhere to be; the inkling was boarding the train not because she was going somewhere, but because she was going home.

The train included several hotel room-like cars, and one had to pay a considerable amount of rent if they wanted to take residence in one. Few creatures were content living in a subway for even a short time, so C.Q. Cumber told Saffron she could stay in the caboose with a price break. But being out of a job, she pulled a few strings with a few cephalopods, and he finally relented into letting her stay for as long as she liked—free of charge.

The caboose was the smallest car, but space was still adequate. Once inside, Saffron collapsed onto a sloppy pile of pillow and blankets strewn about on the floor. She ran her fingers through her tangled tentacles in dismay. Ever since she quit her fateful job, she had been hopping in and out of prison for the past few years. Most of the times it was for harmless, petty crimes. Most of the time.

Saffron moped around for a bit before finally standing up and checking on her E-liter 4k. She lurched over to a hidden metal panel on the wall and opened it. She blew off the dust that covered her all-time favorite weapon and took it out. The ultra-long-range sniper rifle was really the only thing the inkling lived for. Its overarching color was a brilliant yellow and shiny, frigid chrome interlaced it. Other than that it was handsomely simple in design, though there were a few weird stains and markings on it. The weapons dealer had told her it was made from an ancient artifact the extinct humans used to use, called a “gas pump.” To make it look unique from the other E-liters, she had added a few of her own carvings to it.

Cod, she had missed it so much.

Saffron, bored and not sure what to do next, started polishing it to help ease her mind. She was in the middle of the very act when a commotion started in the other car.

“The shell?” she wondered out loud. She got up and peered out the door.

Standing in the next car was a congregation of about six rowdy cephalopods arguing with C.Q. Cumber. The conductor was not one to get riled up, but he raised his squeaky voice more than a few times during their discussion. Suddenly, an octoling shoved C.Q. out of the way, and the entire group converged on the caboose.

Knowing precisely who they were and what they wanted, Saffron dragged a small chair and pinned it against the door handle in an attempt to delay them any way she could. Then she trapped on her ink tank, grabbed her E-liter 4k, and trudged to the back door.

Saffron stepped out onto the caboose patio and hesitated for a moment to get her bearings. The deepsea was awestriking because she had never ventured into it without the protection of a building or the subway. It contained no water like the epiderm of the ocean did, but rather some sort of dazzling, weightless fluid; remarkably, it was breathable and did not harm her. The liquid possessed a phosphorescent tint, making it somewhat easier to see in the dark ocean. She blinked in bewilderment as her tentacles defied gravity and floated in the air like a beach ball in a pool.

Saffron forced herself to snap back to the matter at hand. She examined her surroundings before making any moves but found no other option. The inkling climbed up the ladder that lead to the roof of the train and ran towards the engine. While her body was so light and buoyant, her E-liter 4k mocked a ton of coral as it pressed against her velocity.

The train was extensive, and soon a motley of obnoxious footsteps pounded the roof. Even though the thick air muted the train’s roar, Saffron could hear each of her agitator’s steps beat in daunting sync with hers. She charged up her E-liter, looked behind her, and fired. She hit one cephalopod in the head, but after she went down, the others never faltered and only spurred their pace. They were dancing a dance of permanent death—there was no need for respawners in casual places such as a subway.

Every so often Saffron would take another shot, but it was fruitless; she was on a convulsing train that warped her mind into dizziness. The stations sped by; their colors blurring and dancing like the hypnotizing lights during a splatfest.

Once she came to a gap in between the cars, she hopped down and tried one of the doors. It was bolted shut. A bullet of ink whizz by Saffron’s ear as she climbed back up. Another ink slug rang out while she was distracted, and this time it struck her upper arm.

The tracks pivoted, making the train follow. That coupled with not recovering from the shot, Saffron lost her balance and fell off. Her free hand was barely gripping the roof’s edge.

Saffron struggled to pull herself back up, but the injury was worse than she initially thought and she couldn’t submerge herself in ink to heal it. Her other hand gripped her E-liter 4k, but if she let go of that, what good would climbing back up do without a weapon to fight off the cephalopods? The dizziness only increased, and the train’s ledge slipped beneath her fingers.

The only option the inkling had left was to super-jump. She desperately didn’t want to do this because of her unusual position, the altered gravity, and the lack of light; all which impaired her natural sense of direction. She would be jumping blind, who knows what debris she would hit and where she would land? The injury itself would certainly throw her off course as well.

But there was nothing else Saffron could do. She morphed into squid form and squeezed her eyes shut with anxiety. Then she braced herself against the side of the train and lifted off.


	4. TEAMMATE

_Pafft, pafft._

Saffron’s eyes flew open and she bolted upright. Immediately overcome by intense fatigue and sharp pain radiating from the side of her head, she let out a frail groan and sagged back down.

_Pafft pafft._

Saffron woke up again, but this time shot her hand out to grab the silky, bristly object that was rubbing against her face.

“Stop!” A timid yet strong voice ordered. The figure whipped back their Inkbrush just in time before Saffron could accost it. They held it over their head and pointed it at her, ready to strike if need be.

“Wha—”

“Are you an inkling?” the unknown creature demanded.

Saffron’s eyesight steadied. A cephalopod with neon green skin and vivid blue tentacles hovered over her. Their face had a soapy complexion to it, and one eye glowed a soft, warm brown. Even though the environment was dim, it was obvious what the creature was. She stumbled back in fear, for it was a sanitized octoling.

“. . . What?” Saffron blurted. She was shocked; weren’t sanitized creatures supposed to be brainless zombies that attacked the first thing they saw?

“Oh no, don’t tell me you don’t speak Octarian.” They cleared their throat and raised their voice to a needlessly high pitch, “I said, _are you an inkling?_ ”

The clamor felt like someone had dropped a bomb in her eardrums. “Agh, what? Oh yeah, I understood you; and yes I’m an inkling.”

“Ah, that’s what I thought.” Their tone was finally normal, “I wasn’t completely sure though. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an inkling—and the last time I saw one it didn’t end very well.” Hazy memories of Agent 3 filled their mind for a moment.

“But anyway, my name’s Khrome.” Xe held out xyr hand gingerly.

Saffron, suspicious of xem, did not accept the greeting. Nor did she offer her name. Instead, she stood up and was forced to look down. Khrome was more petite than most octolings; xe had to be at least several inches shorter than her.

“Where am I?” she asked.

Khrome awkwardly put xyr hand back down. “Oh uh, you’re in one of the Deepsea Metro testing stations. I heard something crash and went to investigate. I noticed that you were an inkling, and that concerned me.”

“That’s nice,” she jabbed. “Now, is there any way I can get back to the subway?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t really think so. The main entrance is never powered up and I can’t open it manually. I haven’t seen a living soul around here in forever either. It’s like they abandoned the station, but I can’t imagine why.”

The remark genuinely puzzled Saffron. “What did you expect would happen to the stations after the Squidbeak Splatoon took them down?”

“Squidbeak . . . Splatoon . . .” More words that heightened Khrome’s stress. “What did the Squidbeak Splatoon do?”

“You don’t know? What happened to the Metro has been the biggest news story since the zapfish were stolen.”

The octoling’s tone became defensive, “. . . I’ve been here for a very long time”.

Saffron sighed. “Well, basically the Metro was revealed as being part of a genocidal maniac’s evil plan and—”

“Yeah yeah, I’m painfully familiar with that part.” Xyr interruptance dripped with impatient bitterness.

“—and the Squidbeak Splatoon ended up halting the plan. The stations were closed down shortly after.”

“What? So they just abandoned every station? What about the sanitized enemies? Did the Squidbeak Splatoon ever think about them?”

“Not really?” she replied with indifference plus a hint of guilt. “They thought they were just, you know, zombies that would die off or shut down or whatever?”

“Seriously?! If they’re zombies, how are they supposed to die off?”

Saffron tightened her grip on her E-liter 4k but stayed silent.

Khrome continued xyr rant, quaking. “They don’t even have a pulse; they’re not alive in the first place so the zombies are basically immortal and it really sucks!”

She glowered at xyr. “And have you been sanitized?”

Reflecting on xemself, the octoling immediately placated. “I uh, no. I mean well, kind of? They were in the process, and I barely escaped right before they forced total control over me. I can still feel its effects though. It may stop your heart, but instead of shutting your mind down too, sanitization just really screws up your mental psyche . . .”

“Sounds familiar,” Saffron muttered, dry. “Why don’t you super-jump out?”

“Oh I would’ve, and I can shift into octopus form just fine, but sanitization stripped away my super-jumping ability. Besides, even if I could, I’d probably just hit my head on the ceiling.”

Saffron examined the station. Giant human artifacts lined the horizon, their whimsical presence being a mystery. Grates and cracked plaster spanned the floor, which was hoisted on fragile pillars that dove beneath their feet into an abyss. Dust dotted the stuffy air. There was a shiny vague outline surrounding the rolling, phosphorescent sky. The entire station was apparently encapsulated in an enormous bubble, and the roof reached far above their heads. 

She came to terms with her fate and said dully, “Right, so if I’m stuck here, I might as well make the best of it. Any place where I can just, you know, lie down and be alone until I die?”

“I, erm, what? Why would you want to do that?”

“I have no reason to go back, everyone back home hates me, I bet they’ll celebrate my death or some carp. I’m probably here because of destiny.”

The octoling narrowed xyr eyes, confusion warping into sympathetic annoyance. “Okay, stop being unreasonable. I’m certain not everyone back where you come from hates you.”

“You’d be surprised,” the inkling said through her teeth.

“. . . Is this really your way of dealing with impending doom?”

“Pfft, it seems like you’ve made peace with your fate, so this is how I make peace with mine.”

“Yeah, but I still want to leave—”

She was having none of it. “Plus, the reason I’m here in the first place is that I made the foolish mistake of trying to outrun—outjump rather—the preordained fate I deserved.”

Khrome’s eyes softened into genuine curiosity. “What happened?”

“I did some unsavory business and a few cephalopods tried to get their revenge.”

“Oh, what did you do then?”

“Heh, not much. Got caught dealing super sea snails to Murch.”

“What?”

Saffron sighed. Yep, xe had been there for a while. “I’m not inclined to say what I’ve done. It’s complicated, to say the least.” Before Khrome could reply, she added with haste, “So, do you know where I can just rest and get healed up?” Her injuries had not dulled in pain one bit. 

“Wha . . . oh yeah sorry.” The octoling seemed uneasy. “If you want I can take you to my camp.”

The fact she was asking a stranger—a sanitized one at that—for help slapped Saffron in the face, and she almost backtracked on the offer. But then she metaphorically shrugged her shoulders and went with it. It didn’t really matter now. Besides, she was sure she could handle xem.

“Yeah, that’d be fine—” she lifted her E-liter and her eyes darted across the environment “—wait, did you hear that?”

Khrome struggled to hear the obscure sound. “Sorry, my senses aren’t all that great; what did you hear?”

Saffron didn’t answer and instead raised her weapon. With the speed and accuracy of a professional sniper, she flick-shotted an unknown personage basking in the shadows. Their sanitized but permanently dead body slumped to the ground.

Khrome gawked at her. “Where did you learn—carp, get down!” Xe shoved her head down before ink could hit it. “I’m so sorry! I forgot this area was racked with them; you go heal and I’ll try to hold them off.”

“Uh . . .” Saffron was about to disobey before noticing the numerous enemies. “Guess I have to.” A mob of various animal species emerged. Their amounts exploded instead of ceasing. Five dozen, soulless eyes preyed on the two while their grizzled snarls and dissonant footsteps fell into psychotic harmony.

Saffron inked a small patch of turf in front of her and compressed into a squid. Her ink gradually healed the gunshot wounds, but the gash on her head and a few other scrapes still throbbed with pain. Apparently, whatever caused those wounds was not by ink but debris or some other object.

Meanwhile, Khrome was circling the inkling and splatting the agitators nearest to her. Xyr agility and prowess with the weapon was unmatched; Saffron stared in astonishment as xe struck at the speed of lightning. Being a charger main, Saffron was used to keeping up with fleet-footed brushes and the like, but no matter where she turned Khrome was just a blur. Xe always caught the dazed enemies off-guard, and if xe ran into one that was too much for xem to handle, xe simply zipped past and saddled around to catch the lackadaisical creature from behind. Inkbrushes might’ve been the race cars of weapons, but they possessed the caveat of an incredibly short range.

After several agonizing minutes that disguised themselves as an eternity, Saffron was healed to the fullest extent. She picked up her E-liter 4k decisively. At breakneck speed, shot an eel that was wrapping itself around Khrome’s throat. Saffron continued to pick off whoever gave xyr a hard time and whoever xe couldn’t reach.

The match was exhilarating for both of them—it had been such a long time since either had battled with a partner. The rush of victory and idiosyncrasy flew through their veins. They had missed the sensation so much.

The horde diminished, and the teammates swore they could hear a supernatural melody wafting through on a mild breeze. It morphed the otherwise squalid air into something vitalizing and blocked out the cacophony of their war.

And then the music stopped.


	5. PAST

“RUN!” shouted Khrome.

The already dying lights of the station flickered off. The entire area was delved into darkness. The divine music ceased and an ear-splitting, hellish scramble of instrumentals replaced it.

“What?” cried Saffron over the noise.

“What?!” xe cried louder. “Just run! We have to get away before we’re caught in the shift.”

Behind them, churning metal echoed deafeningly through the station. Whimsical structures and dilapidated architecture twisted into construction that rivaled their previous grotesqueness. The sanitized creatures wailed in horror as they tried to escape, but most weren’t fast enough. They tripped and trampled each other, and their bodies became entangled within the shifting terrain.

Saffron was barely keeping up with Khrome, and she could tell xe had the potential of running even faster if xe wanted to. The octoling was going slower for her.

“This happens every few weeks,” Khrome explained over xyr shoulder. “The stations shift to confuse returning test subjects; they never visit the same station twice.”

The reply was ragged, “I never I heard about that before.”

“What?”

“I said I never heard about the shifts before!”

“That’s because they don’t shift while the test subjects are, I mean were, around. That was ironically too dangerous. But that doesn’t stop them from hurting the sanitized enemies.”

“There has to be an area that’s safe.”

“There is,” Khrome confirmed. “My camp’s far away, but hopefully we can make it. I’m sorry, the fight made me forget all about it.”

Xe grabbed Saffron’s wrist to help pull her along her. Xe wished she would go faster; at their current rate escape was uncertain. The ongoing shift was especially intense compared to the previous ones. The rolling tide of debris refused to lag its chase on the pair; it swallowed anything that came in the way of its growing, convoluting body.

The shift wasn’t their only problem. Whimsical human artifacts scarred the landscape, and they flew towards the center, pulled by the deposit of gravity. Saffron and Khrome hopped across gamepad buttons and ran across a treadmill of strawberry fruit rolls. They slid across the glossy screen of a smartphone and dodge-rolled underneath whipping charging cords. A large cable flanked Saffron from the side and out of instinct she shot it like a bird out of the sky, but as it fell the other end brutally slapped the back of her body.

“Hnng!” She fell to the ground and laid motionless.

Khrome hesitated before aiding her, various thoughts racing through xyr head. The shift crept towards her. Xe ran to her side and shook her back to consciousness. “Come on.”

Up ahead, a giant conch shell had flown by and landed out of the shift’s path. “Over there, I see a spot where we can rest.”

Khrome pulled her up. They stumbled into the cozy enclave.

“I’m so sorry, I should’ve been paying more attention.”

“No no,” Saffron said, “it wasn’t your fault.”

“Are you okay?”

She was breathing through her teeth. “Hhh . . . I’m fine.” She eased back as her frazzled voice reverberated against the pastel walls.

Khrome doubted that but didn’t mention it. “So uh, where did you learn how to shoot like that?”

“Taught myself,” the inkling replied matter-of-factly. “Since I was a kid, my goal was to get good at all the weapon classes. I did, though I’m definitely the most proficient at long-range chargers.”

“Wow, that takes a lot of dedication. Did you ever get any help or train with a partner?”

With an indifferent manner, “Nah.”

Khrome smirked. “I bet you got a good job though.”

“Ehh, you could say that.” Saffron sounded embarrassed.

“Cool! What did you do?”

“Grizzco!”

She grimaced at xyr blank reaction. “The Squidbeak Splatoon hired me; I was agent number three.”

Khrome nearly had a panic attack when the words hit xyr ears. Xyr heart jumped from its chest cavity, and numerous memories flashed before xyr eyes, vivid as on the day xe lived them. The moment the octoling first saw Saffron’s sniping skills a suspicious feeling latched on and never let go, but xe never dreamed it was true.

“I knew the way you handled your charger was familiar!” Khrome gasped. Xyr anxiety contained not just fear but also a sprinkle of admiration.

It was obvious the info unnerved xem. “Oh, so you’ve been stuck here long enough not to know what Murch and Grizzco are but not long enough not to understand who I am. Figures.” Saffron attempted to sit up straighter so she could look Khrome in the eye. “Now that you mention it, I think I remember you too. Moray Towers; didn’t I let you go?”

“You did that on purpose?” Xyr hand drift involuntarily towards xyr Inkbrush. Xe didn’t stop it.

She snorted pitifully. “I’m not just saying that. I could’ve shot you on site. But you took off your goggles, and I could tell that you didn’t want to fight. After that mission, I quit.”

Khrome was doubtful. “Rrreally?”

It took a long time before Saffron could respond, but xyr relaxed gaze soothed her.

“Okay, I kind of. I rescued all of the zapfish, and sometimes the Splatoon would call me back in for another specific mission. I wanted to quit but the Octarians were dangerous. And then, I saved that one octoling. You know, the one who became Agent 8 of the Splatoon.”

Of course, Khrome didn’t know.

“Agh. I was there undercover at the Deepsea Metro, surveying the subway when a test subject emitted an emergency call. Obviously, I was the only ‘employee’ who helped her. Ironically enough, right after saving her I passed out, woke up with half of my brain sanitized, and almost tried to kill her.”

Saffron touched the side of her face out of nostalgia and self-consciousness. “That’s also how I got my scar. Yeah, it doesn’t look great.”

Khrome shook xyr head. “Oh! I wondered about it, but I don’t think it’s ugly, at all. I mean carp, look at me.”

The inkling shrugged with a forced, nonchalant air.

“But what you went through, that sounds . . . traumatizing, to say the least. What did you do afterwards?”

“It sucked, yeah.” Saffron stared at her hands in shame and couldn’t help but admit everything. “Afterwards, I couldn’t go back to my job, and we—I and Agent 8, that is—even dated. But then I started having nightmares, and I picked bar fights with octolings, and did other stupid stuff. Few knew I was Agent 3 but those that did targeted me; I found myself on every gang’s list. We broke up quickly and I began living on the train. Granted, my mental health was never the best, but after hunting down those Octarians and then being half-sanitized I constantly wondered if the Octarians were really right and if the Squidbeak Splatoon was wrong about the Octarians or if I was right about being wrong about the Splatoon or if I was even right about anything and then . . .” Her voice accelerated into a troubled ramble.

“It’s okay,” said Khrome gently.

“Mmph.” She rubbed her head. Discussing the heavy topic at this length was giving her a headache. “I assume you personally knew the octoling soldiers I killed.”

“Every one.” Khrome’s tone was solemn but lacked malice. Xe felt it should contain some, but at the same time, xe didn’t really know why.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to you after I, uh, did what I did?”

“It took a minute before xe could say; xe never had anyone to talk with about this before. “Well, you see, I was really close to one teammate, and I didn’t back her up that fateful day; I just had one life left so I ran away instead. But someone from the Deepsea Metro soon found me, and after failing the tests they tried to sanitize me. I escaped during the procedure but they caught me and sent me here. That’s when I knew I had to become more resilient and even faster than I already was. So I spent my time training against the other sanitized enemies—I mean, there was nothing else to do.”

Saffron noticed Khrome was clutching xyr weapon and knew exactly why, but didn’t mention it. She nodded at it. “Yeah, you’ve got a pretty fresh brush.”

Xe glanced at xyr hand self-consciously; xe knew that she knew. “Ah I’m sorry, it’s a force of habit. And thank you! I actually had it custom-made. I’ve always loved the wooden handle on Octobrushes and I wanted that on an Inkbrush.”

She smiled a genuine smile. It had been such a long time since she had done so, and the action felt weird.

The octoling finished spilling xyr emotions on xyr own. “. . . But yeah, deep down I blamed myself for what happened, and I wanted to make up for it.”

They remained in silence for a while. The conch shell muted the harsh discord the shift generated. It was a peaceful place to talk, and Saffron was glad they had found it. The background noise was actually pretty tranquilizing.

“Uhm, how’s your back doing?” Khrome inquired.

Saffron lurched upward and banged her head on the ceiling of the shell.

Xe giggled at the sight.

Saffron smiled again, even though the bump aggravated her head injury. “It’s better . . . thank you for coming back for me.”

Khrome smiled as well. “It took courage.” Xe sounded as if xe was trying to convince xemself more than anything.

They were leaving the shell when it quaked. Cracks dashed up the walls, and Saffron pulled Khrome out right before they could collapse into rubble.

All around them, the ground split like a frozen pond during winter. The pieces shifted wildly and rose into the air, so there was nothing but a gaping abyss underneath them. The cephalopods struggled to hop across the stepping stones while maintaining balance. They had to hurry; the ground crumbled beneath their feet within seconds.

Saffron and Khrome tried to stay close but ended up drifting farther and farther away, to the point a giant moat of emptiness separating them.

Then the ground rocketed up so high they were sure it was going to smash them against the roof. Instead, it plunged back down. Their bodies couldn’t keep up with the abrupt change; they slipped off and plummeted towards an unknown destination.

Khrome tried to cry out for Saffron on impulse, and that’s when xe realized xe didn’t even know her name.


	6. SANITIZED

Time dragged to an excruciating crawl. It felt like they had been falling for eternity and both questioned how much longer they would have to endure the dark descent. They called out for each other, but the distance was too great for either to hear.

Finally, Khrome plunged into liquid. By instinct, the octoling swam upwards as fast as xe could, but xe hadn’t fallen into water; it was the mysterious phosphorescent fluid that permeated the ocean.

Xyr breathing, ragged from the dive, steadied. Xe searched for a way out, maneuvering through the magical fluid. A robust current pushed Khrome even deeper and carried xem to a peculiar object.

It took a while before the octoling could precisely see what it was. The object in question turned out to be a large, circular platform. It was layered with smooth white tiles and sported a glowing blue rim. It sat at the very bottom of the station, and it eluded the reason for existing. The current carried Khrome to the center and the platform’s diameter grew into enormity. It was an arena of some sort.

Xe was exploring the odd thing when xe sensed someone breathing down xyr neck. Khrome whipped around, Inkbrush hungry to attack.

“Saffron!” Khrome wanted to say, but xe was painfully reminded that xe never had actually caught the inkling’s name. The octoling regretted not asking her what it was during their rest in the conch shell.

Khrome managed only to squeak, “I’m so glad you made it . . .” before xyr voice trailed off.

It was Saffron standing in front of xem alright, but she was frozen as a statue, and Khrome’s presence provoked no reaction from her. She glared at xyr with determined and dark, brooding eyes.

Khrome was confounded until xe saw something turquoise bulging from the side of her head. It was a hunk of pulsing, sanitized material. It fed on half of Saffron’s face and slithered down her body like ivy. It discolored one of her purple eyes to a lifeless white.

Xe wheezed in disbelief.

Without a word, Saffron raised her E-liter 4K and fired.

Khrome dodge-rolled out of the way just in time, but she had vanished when xe looked back. Xe grimaced. Sanitization altered free will but exponentially increased one’s abilities and strengths—and Saffron was already much more powerful than xem. It was because she was Agent 3. Agent 3 of the Squidbeak Splatoon.

Something cold touched xyr leg; it was an ink bomb. It exploded before xe could react and the ink cloud hovered in the watery air for a minute.

The explosion sent Khrome to a hefty respawner. It had enough energy for more than three lives, but xe couldn’t tell exactly how many. Xe chagrined and set to work. Any decent brusher knows a charger main’s worst weakness is their backside.

* * *

Nine lives, depleted.

Khrome inspected xyr respawner. Its glow was fainter, and its wired crown sparked in a sporadic pattern. Xe had purged an equal amount of lives from Agent 3, and both assumed each had only one life left.

Agent 3 respawned for the ninth time on the opposite side of the arena. It was depressing. Respawners, like any other technology, were a gift and a curse. It was enough to put someone in an asylum; dying over and over again, and then seeing the ones you care about die over and over again—and then there was seeing your enemies die over and over again.

There was no energizing or uplifting music during this particular duel, and both missed it. Khrome rubbed xyr bloodshot eyes as they met again on the arena. The octoling was exhausted and anxious, and Agent 3 mirrored xem. They circled each other with weapons held high, like two old predators fighting over territory.

The inkling locked eyes with xem, and for the first time during their fight, she made no attempt to attack. She ceased her pacing, and her hands wavered for a moment. It almost seemed like she was battling the urge to raise her E-liter 4k. She made no effort to move or escape.

Khrome zoomed up to her, ready to attack with xyr Inkbrush. Nothing mattered now except this chance. Xe wouldn’t run away this time.

Saffron remained placid as the octoling slapped her a few times with xyr brush. Her body faltered but never collapsed. The look on her face suggested she was in pain, but not physical pain. It was an internal pain, like she was fighting something within herself.

Khrome cringed and swiped at her face again. The inkling fell to her knees, the ocean holding the rest of her body up. Her eyes glazed over as she stared straight ahead into the vast, empty distance and her long, messy orange tentacles bobbed with the waves. It was so easy now, just one more hit. Yet Khrome hesitated. It was too easy; the inkling wasn’t even attacking xem. Was this running away?

“Agent 3?” xe asked absentmindedly.

As expected, Agent 3 offered no response.

Khrome dropped to xyr knees as well, Inkbrush floating in front of her face. Xe tapped her cheek with it. “No,” xe mused out loud, “I was wrong. You’re not just Agent 3. You’re, you’re . . . what is your name?”

The octoling dumped xyr weapon on the ground and wrapped xyr arms her. Xe shut xyr eyes and dug xyr nose into the other’s shoulder. Not a sound was articulated except for the deep purring of the waves, which held the cephalopods in their strong but calming grip.

The minutes bled out and they lingered that way for a long time. Just Khrome, Agent 3, and the ocean.

“My name is Saffron.”

Khrome felt two arms wrap around xyr back. “What?” Xe whipped xyr head to look at the inkling.

“Saffron,” she repeated. “My name’s Saffron.”

She tapped xyr tentacles. “Aww, you’re cute when you’re sleepy.”

Khrome’s face reddened.

“Relax, I just wanted to see if sanitized octolings could blush.” She smirked. “Apparently they can, which makes no sense considering you don’t have a beating heart, but I’ll roll with it.”

Xyr face’s red hue increased. “Uh, Saffron, wow, that’s a really nice name. Could you hear me all that time?”

“Crystal clear.”

“I’m sorry. At first I thought I had to kill you, and I almost did. But I realized you’re not just Agent 3. You’re Saffron too.”

It took her a long time to reply to this. Her eyes shined. “I fought against the sanitization this time; like really fought. I swore to myself that I didn’t want to hurt you. I swore that I was more than my past.”

“Yeah, I realized that too.”

“I know for sure your words and that hug sped up the process. They helped break me free.”

Xe sighed with relief. “I’m glad. I couldn’t give up on you.”

Saffron stood up and pointed at the respawners with resolution. “There has to be an energy source feeding them. If we follow those wires maybe we can find a power room with a radio or something.”

“Oh my cod, you’re right!” the octoling said. “I’ve always thought it didn’t make any sense that there was only one generator for the one exit. While I was stuck here for the first few weeks, I even scoured the entire station for another one—but never found it. Even if there’s not another door maybe we can hook something up to the main entrance.”

They pursued the trail. While they swam, Khrome assisted Saffron in picking the sanitized goop off her body.

* * *

The wires lead to a little concrete building. One tiny square panel served as the entryway, and it was bolted shut from the inside.

“Carp,” Khrome said, squinting, “why is everything so tiny?”

“Small moon jellies probably used to handle this area. While I was undercover, I ran into a lot of jellyfish ‘employees.’ Their specialty was underwater upkeep.”

They circled the building several times before noticing a diminutive window.

“Wow,” the octoling said. “I’m pretty sure we won’t be able to fit through that, even in our other forms.”

Saffron smashed her E-liter 4k into the glass. After it shattered, she peered into the building. The window was nary a keyhole. “Eh, you’re right; but I can see the door. Maybe—”

The inkling fed the long, slender barrel of her E-liter through the jagged opening. She maneuvered it to the door and hassled the primitive bolt. Eventually, it gave up and unfastened.

Grinning, Khrome opened the hatch and crawled through. Saffron followed xem after pulling her weapon back out.

They stood up straight and their heads almost tapped the ceiling. On the floor near the door was the limp body of a sanitized moon jelly, just like Saffron had hypothesized. Video cameras wrapped around the walls, their feeds illuminating the dreary room. A sizable control panel was disposed in the center.

“Incredible,” Khrome conferred emotionally as xe absorbed the environment. “They hid this power room at the very bottom, underwater. Probably in case of emergencies, and to make hijacking the station nearly impossible.”

Xe opened up the panel and examined its contents. “Ech, it’s been a while since I’ve been around advanced engineering like this. Even so, I was never the savviest with it. Nothing’s labelled.”

“Of course not,” Saffron said. “That would make it too easy.” She peered at the various buttons, levers, and switches. “Actually, let me just—”

She flicked a small white switch. A robotic voice announced, _“The main gate is currently shut down. Confirm safe mode activation?”_

Khrome gawked at her. “How did you know what that one would do?”

“Just a hunch. A good charger main has to trust them.”

“What do you think safe mode even is?”

“Let’s find out.” She turned to the computer. “Confirm order.”

A raucous whirring emanated from the heavens. _“Order confirmed. Safe mode activated. The main gate is now open and will remain open temporarily for (thirty) seconds.”_

“Thirty seconds?!” panicked Khrome. “We won’t be able to make that. And what if this is the only way to open the door?”

“We’ll make it if we super-jump.” Her tone was insistent.

Xyr face fell. “I can’t super-jump, remember?”

“No, but I can. Get into octopus form and I’ll hold you.”

Khrome backed away. “But me hanging onto you will mess up your course. You could crash or miss the door! You know it’d be best if you jump without me.”

“I’m not abandoning you. If we crash, at least I’ll cushion your fall.”

“Saffron, I—”

“Hurry up!”

Khrome relented; xe morphed into octopus form and Saffron gently scooped xem up in her muscular limbs. Admittedly, the octoling felt very safe and warm in her embrace, and as xe snuggled down in her arms, xe gazed up at her hopefully. She switched to her own squid form.

“Wait,” Khrome said. Xe used a few tentacles to swaddle the back of Saffron’s head. “I want to protect your head. Especially with that wound.”

The inkling let out a scanty laugh, pushed against the ground, then blasted through the ceiling. 


	7. Epilogue

Khrome woke up lying on top of Saffron. Xe shifted into humanoid form and prodded her motionless squid body. “Saffron? Are you okay?” xe said, leaning over her. Xe received no response and started to panic.

Saffron shot out a tentacle and grabbed xyr Inkbrush. “Finally got you,” she teased.

“ _Saffron!_ ” another voice called, prompting her to stand up.

Apparently, they had landed in the middle of the Deepsea Metro tracks. C.Q. Cumber had stopped the train and was now galloping towards them like a horse on four tall, spindly legs.

Saffron crossed her arms. “Well, that’s a trick I’ve never seen. Sorry for interrupting traffic, conductor. But I knew if we didn’t wait on the tracks you would’ve never noticed us—”

C.Q. cut her off by extending his limbs even more and caressing her in a long, tight hug. “Thank goodness you’re safe.”

“Wow.” Saffron awkwardly wrapped her own arms around his tiny figure. “I didn’t think you . . . honestly cared that much.”

C.Q. took no offense as he let go. “Don’t be ridiculous; every member of the Squidbeak Splatoon is important to me, especially you and Agent 8. I care about both of you deeply.”

“Well thank you, and for everything you have done for us.”

“ _Saffron you piece of squit!_ ”

A tall inkling stepped off the train. She bore a remarkable resemblance to Saffron but was considerably more fashionable and sleek in her dress style.   

“Heyyy,” cooed Saffron. “You gonna hug me, too?”

Jessie slapped her across the face. She spoke in Inkling so Khrome couldn’t understand what she said very well, but the physical exchange made xem flinch. “Where the shell have you been? I tried calling you to see if you got to the Metro in one piece but and you never picked up. I called and called, then sent a million texts. And what happened to your face?”

The sanitized octoling caught her attention. “ _And who is that?!_ ”

Saffron massaged her cheek. Of course the testing stations blocked cell reception. “That’s Khrome. Xe helped me out of a . . . sticky situation.”

“I hope,” C.Q. interjected in the Octarian language, “that you treat each other well. Both of you deserve it.”

Khrome was about to point out that he didn’t even know xem, but stopped short. Xe received vibes that the conductor was the type to know more than he let on.

“Uh thanks, I guess?” Saffron said.

She and Khrome, ignoring Jessie’s perturbed glances, boarded the train. They sat down next to each other with natural casualty as if everything that had happened was normal. The subway lurched forward, and outside miles above, delicate raindrops pitter-pattered against the surface once more. 

“So, now that you’re back, what do you wanna try out first? Turf war?”

Khrome was skeptical. “You think an Inkbrush main would do well?”

Saffron scoffed. “Cutiefish, I main the slowest weapon on the market. If I can dominate the field, you can too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this story! For years I used to write avidly, but this is my very first fanfiction (in fact, this is the first serious piece of writing I've worked on since 2017). Initially, this was just going to be a short little story for a friend who requested that I try writing romantic fanfic, but then it turned into a massive project that I was determined to put time and effort into. It took a little over a month to finish, including drafting and editing.
> 
> As I wrote this story, I ended up becoming quite invested in the characters. I have other short ideas floating around in my head, so I'd like to hear if you think I should continue writing about the adventures of Saffron and Khrome. Any other opinions and suggestions are welcome too!


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